We posted about Firefox OS some time ago and showed how you can experience this new mobile operating system without installing it on your mobile devices. Then Mozilla Firefox OS was being offered in form of an APK that you could install on your Android phone and see what the then-new operating system was all about. But despite all their ardent efforts, Mozilla developers could not compete with the giants like Google and Apple. Firefox OS could never win over the users and make them switch away from Android or iOS devices.
Mozilla Shuts Down All Development
Even though Mozilla had already declared the Firefox OS project to be dead months ago, they have finally published the obituary on CNET by telling them that they have laid off all the fifty employees involved in the development of the Firefox OS. Since Firefox OS was an open-source project, the open source community has taken the development in their hands.
What happens to devices running on Firefox OS?
Mozilla had struck many partnerships with device manufacturers mostly from the emerging markets like India and Philippines. But after this decision of Mozilla, those devices will no longer receive any updates. Any further development of Firefox OS is in the hands of open-source community. Fortunately, the open-source community has already forked the Firefox OS project and the fork is being called B2G OS.
How to install B2G OS on your device?
You can visit the B2G OS website at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/B2G_OS. It is hosted on the Mozilla website, but it is entirely maintained by the open-source volunteer community. You will find the supported devices, their ROMs and the instructions to install these ROMs on your device. For example, Nexus 5 is supported, you can download its B2G OS ROM from github and then install it using TWRP.
Conclusion: Mozilla has killed Firefox OS for good. But it does not mean your Firefox OS devices cannot be upgraded – you can switch over to B2G OS which is an open-source fork of Firefox OS.